As we’ve promised here’s more stories for you to enjoy! The two we’ve picked are videos of Kor Hoebe and Marijn Vissers. Both storytellers of the True Story Comedians group. If you like their work you can catch them at the Mezrab, but also at places like the Ceuvel, where they’ve set up their own nights.

One of the things I’m very proud to present is the new website that will go up with the new location. It’s so sleek, I would marry it if I could. Who knows, in a distant future maybe we can marry our websites. In the mean time, I just have to share it with all of you. If you see it, you will also notice the new logo we have for the Mezrab. Quite a change no? What’s your opinion? Before you head out though, have a look at the logo’s we’ve had so far:

2004:

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The squigles are the word Mezrab spelled out in Persian calligraphy. It served us well until we moved to our second location, when we also changed to this logo in 2009:

See how the Dutch and the Oriental come together in perfect harmony? We liked it, until we decided last year in our third location that we need a logo that emphasizes storytelling more:

Well, now that we’re moving and bringing back the music, it’s time for another logo change. This time it will be more abstract: You can read the M of Mezrab in it, but also the W of the Wilhelmina, the name of the building that houses us. It’s based on Japanese calligraphy, and has the movement of growth in it, quite fitting for our move, no?

As we’re entering the last two weeks of our crowdfunding campaign it’s good to mention one of the big changes that March will bring: We’re moving the Dutch Storytelling night from a Friday to a Thursday. A long time ago we just had one Dutch storytelling night, and one English one. Since then we’ve added so many English nights on a Friday that it’s confusing to have the one Dutch one. English speakers who didn’t look at the planner blink with confusion when they find themselves in a Dutch night. But as of March on every first Friday of the Month we’ll add the Mezrab Comedy Night!

When’s the Dutch Storytelling night? It will be held on the last Thursday of the month, so the next one is on March 26th.

Amsterdam’s made great progress as a storytelling city! There’s stages and groups performing left and right. Good reason to have a look outside of our fair city, but also to do a few preformances on foreign soil! Here’s two shows you might be interested in:

This Tuesday we’re bringing the Mezrab style of storytelling to the UK in a solo show in Newhaven (UK). Do you have any friends out there? Send’em over to this link.

On Wednesday Sahand and some members of the Mezrab Collective play a piece in one of the cutest theaters in the Netherlands, the Rietveld Theater in Delft. The show is part of a series of storytelling shows Mezrab has planned to introduce storytelling in the city of Delft: More info (also in English) can be found here.

Many Amsterdammers know the place we’re moving into. The Cafe Pakhuis Wilhelmina is a bit of an institution. While we’ve decided to do a bunch of stuff there that you wouldn’t expect currently (storytelling in a rock cafe anyone?), they also have some cool events we hope to continue. Tonight one of my favorite nights is on: The Hardrock Karaoke!

Brian, the man behind the Cafe still has a month of kick ass programming for you to enjoy. If you want to know what’s on, go check out the current Cafe Pakhuis Wilhelmina programming!

So, as we promised, here’s the first video of the Mezrab story library. None other than the legendary mister Peter Chand. Peter lives in the UK, but graced us with a visit while he was touring Mezrab. Click below and enjoy the story of the Frog Groom.

PS, this is the first where you can see the new Mezrab logo. What do you think? Be honest!

Yay, according to the Crowdfunding page we hit the 50% mark! Thank you all. It also seems that our little campaign is making some noise and is getting media attention. A few days ago the Parool newspaper gave us a full page: